The Aboriginal Tasmanians (Tasmanian: Parlevar or Palawa) are the indigenous people of the Australian state of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. Before British colonisation in 1803, there were an estimated 3,000–15,000 Parlevar. A number of historians point to introduced disease as the major cause of the destruction of the full-blooded Aboriginal population. Geoffrey Blainey wrote that by 1830 in Tasmania: "Disease had killed most of them but warfare and private violence had also been devastating." Other historians regard the Black War as one of the earliest recorded modern genocides. Benjamin Madley wrote: "Despite over 170 years of debate over who or what was responsible for this near-extinction, no consensus exists on its origins, process, or whether or not it was genocide". However, "[using the] UN definition, sufficient evidence exists to designate the Tasmanian catastrophe genocide."